Written by Glenda
MooreThis
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Why
does your cat wash your hair or face?The first
thing a
kitten
experiences, even before it can see, is its mother
licking and
washing.
Grooming is a demonstration of love and caring.
So, if your cat
occasionally
washes your hair or licks your face, he is showing you
his acceptance
and
caring of you as a fellow feline.

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Why
does a cat "knead" or "make biscuits"?When
a kitten is nursing, it typically kneads its paws
against its mother,
either
as a sign of contentment or to encourage the milk
flow. When the
cat matures, it kneads to show its contentment and
pleasure.

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Why
does a cat go to the visitor who doesn't like cats?When one cat
is
threatening
another, it stares boldly, sometimes hisses, and
frequently moves in
toward
the other cat. Usually, the person who doesn't
like cats avoids
looking
at it, doesn't talk to it, and sits quietly, hoping to
be ignored by
the
cat. The cat, therefore, sees the person's
behavior as
"cat-friendly"
and practically inviting.

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Why
does your cat push its head against you? This is
called "head
butts".
This is a cat's way of showing affection. Some cats
will turn their
head,
and push it against a human (or another cat).

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Why
does a cat do a stiff-legged hop/touch against a
human?That
is the cat's body language of saying, "hey, hi
there, how ya doin'?"

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Why
does your cat rub up against you?Cats have
scent
glands along
the tail, on each side of their head, on their lips,
base of their
tail,
chin, near their sex organs, and between their
front paws. They
use
these glands to scent mark their territory. When the
cat rubs you, he
is
marking you with his scent, claiming you as
"his." Too, he is
picking
up your scent. Cats rub up against furniture or
doorways for the same
reason
- to mark the item as "his". (Urine spraying is
also a
territorial
marking, by the way.)

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Why
does a cat sometimes wash its fur immediately
after being petted?There
are two theories on this behavior. One theory
proposes that the
cat
is getting rid of the human smell. The other
is that the cat is
furthering
the pleasure of his association with you by tasting
your scent.

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Why
do some cats suck wool or clothing?There are a
couple
of theories
on this:The cat was
weaned
too early
and the scent of the lanolin reminds the cat of his
mother, or The cat has a
lack
of fiber
in his diet.

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Why
does a cat walk sloooowly, looking straight forward
when passing
another
cat?All cats are
territorial
to an extent - the range of a particular inside cat
may extend from a
small
space in a room to the entire house, depending on
their hierarchical
ranking
in the family. When a "superior" cat confronts on
"inferior" in the
hierarchy,
it will stare at and/or move in for a face-to-face
confrontation.
When a cat wants to show that it doesn't want to get
into an argument,
it will make a wide, slow path around the other cat,
usually avoiding
even
looking at it.

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Why
does a cat use a litterbox?In feral cat
colonies, subordinate cats cover their waste, while
dominant ferals
leave it conspicuously uncovered. Most indoor cats
bury their waste,
possibly to display subordination to their humans.
Sometimes in
multi-cat households, however, the dominant cat will
leave waste
uncovered to indicate his status.

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Why
does a cat scratch outside the litterbox, instead of
inside it?The cat has
probably
had
several unpleasant experiences of getting his feet
soggy or dirty -
make
sure the litterbox is cleaned out frequently.

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Why
does a cat purr?Usually, a
cat purrs
because
it is content. A mother cat purrs to let her
kittens know she is
nearby, and kittens purr in response to their mother's
grooming.
Older kittens purr to entice adults to play.
Some adults will
purr
to show an aggressor that they are non-threatening.
Take note, however,
that some cats will purr when frightened or in pain.

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Why
does a cat sometimes scratch the floor as though he
is trying to bury
his
food dish?It may be a
holdover
of
the wild trait of burying food for later. Or, it
may be that he
is
trying to tell you that the food is not to his liking.

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Why
does a cat attack human's ankles?Kitten play
always
involves
mock battles, with surprise attacks, pounces, and
leaps. The
kitty
is basically trying to play, as he would with another
cat. Direct
him to less painful game play - chasing balls, cords,
and so on.

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Why
are some people allergic to cats' fur?It's not the
cat's
fur that
causes allergies. It's a protein (FEL D1) in the cat's
saliva. When a
cat
grooms itself, it deposits this protein on its fur
(and the protein
then
may be transferred to upholstery and carpets). Some cats
have
less (or more) of this protein. There is no way
to predict
which cat in a litter, if any, will be less
allergenic, though
females
seem to be the lesser allergenic. Bathing a cat
to reduce the
amount
of protein in the cat's fur has traditionally been
recommended, but
research may be tending to negate that
conclusion. Instead,
wiping down the cat using a damp microfiber cloth to
remove visible
dander may be more effective. I've also been
told that a product
called Allerpet, rubbed into the cat's fur, can help
reduce the dander.

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Why
does your cat turn his/her back on you after a
scolding, or if you've
been
gone for a while?Typically, a
person's body
language when reprimanding a pet includes staring or
other overtly
"aggressive"
behavior. The cat usually responds in a
submissive fashion.
In a sense, it is telling you he has surrendered to
you, as a fellow
cat,
and is discouraging attack. (By the way,
you will get
better
results from a cat if you enforce his positive
behavior instead of
reprimanding
any negative behavior.)

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Why
does your cat bring you dead or dying creatures?There are at
least
four
differing theories on this behavior: - Your cat is
bringing you
a present, in appreciation for you feeding it or as a
sign of affection.- Your cat
realizes
you are
a totally incompetent mouser and is trying to educate
you.- The cat is
bringing her
prey home to where it is safe, where she usually eats.-
The cat is simply trying to make
sure you have fresh food.

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Why
does a cat play with its prey?Cats are
attracted
by movement,
so if a stalked prey keeps moving, the cat's desire to
attack continues
to be stimulated. If the cat gets very
excited over the
stalking/killing,
he may continue to play with the prey after it is
dead.

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Why
do some cats put their toys in their water or food
dish?Cats look
upon their
food
area as part of their territory, and that particular
area of their
territory
usually doesn't change from day to day - so the cats
are likely putting
their favorite toys away in a "safe" place. Some
cats will
consistently
put away their toys when they're through playing with
them - you might
try putting your cat's toys in a small basket near one
of his favorite
spots and see if he will put them away on his
own.

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Why
does your cat take a small bite on your arm or cheek
and hold on for a
few seconds?Some cats,
when they
are
very happy and feeling extremely affectionate toward
the Big Unfurry
Cat,
will gently take a piece of human skin between
their teeth and
hold
it for a few seconds. Think of it as the feline
equivalent of
kissing.

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Why
do cats roll over on their backs?Cats
roll over on their backs for a variety of
reasons: if your cat
flops
down in front of you and rolls over on his back for
a belly skritch,
it's
a sign of his complete trust in you that you won't
ever hurt him.
Other times, he wants to play. If the cat is
female and in heat,
it's a form of foreplay. It's also a part of
their social
standing. Domesticated cats don't display this
as much as wild
ones do. Wild cats have a very similar social
structure to that of
wolves.

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Why
does a cat lick photographs or plastic bags?It
has been speculated that they are tasting the slight
"odor" that
emanates
from these products. They may also enjoy the
texture of the items
on their tongue.

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Why
do some cats go crazy over catnip, but others ignore
it?The response
to
catnip is
the result of a gene in the cat; if the cat doesn't
have the gene, it
cannot
physically react to catnip. Some cats will react
to catnip by
rolling
around on the floor in delight, others will just
quickly eat it up and
wander off, while others will ignore it completely.

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Why
does a cat sometimes "sneer" when smelling
something?When a cat
curls
back its
upper lip and looks like it's sneering, it has just
discovered an
interesting,
usually intense odor and is smelling it more
deeply. Called
"flehming,"
it is drawing the odors into an organ (Jacobson's
organ), in the roof
of
its mouth.

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Why
do cats sometimes scratch at windows?It
may be that they are verifying that there is
actually a barrier between
them and whatever they see outside.

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Why
does a cat hate getting wet?Actually,
many cats enjoy water and at least one breed is
known to enjoy fishing
and swimming. But, it has to be on their own
terms - being picked
up by two human hands and dunked in a sink full of
water is not on the
cat's "own terms."

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Why
do some cats insist on drinking from a dripping
faucet?Cats - like
most
other animals
- prefer their food and water fresh, and running water
is most
appealing
for that reason. Too, the motion of water coming out
of a faucet is
probably
appealing to their sense of hearing and sight.
Another likely theory is that cats
can’t see where the water level is with still water,
and they don’t like sticking their face in it.
So some cats test the water level with their paw
first, and others drink from alternate sources where
the level doesn’t change, like the drip, the toilet,
or the bathtub puddles.

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Why
does a cat hide when it is sick or dying?Instinct
tells a cat to hide where a predator can't find
them. When a cat
is ill, it may think it is being stalked - so it
hides. Too, it wants to avoid any further threat to
its well-being.

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Why
does a cat spend so much time grooming?Besides
the obvious purpose of hygiene and the social
aspects, grooming helps
cats
cope with confrontation or 'embarassment' (you may
have noticed that if a
cat accidentally falls off a chair, the first thing
he does is
nonchalantly
wash himself, as though he intended to get down in
the first place.)

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Why
does a cat frequently demand attention when you're
on the telephone?The
cat, since it can't see the person you are talking
to, presumes you are
talking to him, and is responding to what he
perceives is your
conversation
with him.

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Why
does a cat scratch the furniture or a scratching
post?While
some people think a cat scratches to sharpen its
claws, that is
probably
inaccurate. There are typically two reasons
for scratching:
the cat is marking its territory (cats have sweat
glands between their
paw pads, and scratching leaves their scent on the
clawed object); or,
the cat is "filing down" its nails and removing the
outer layer

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Why
does a cat suddenly bite or hiss at a person after
it's been petted for
a while?If
a person persists in touching a sensitive area (such
as the cat's tail,
ears, or belly), the cat might give a gentle nip to
as a way of staying
"stop." Too, some cats can tolerate
pleasurable stroking only for
short periods of time; again, he may communicate
"stop it" with a nip
or
cuff of his paw.

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Why
do some cats insist on tipping over their water
dish, or take food out
of the dish and drop it on the floor to eat?Most
cats do not like to eat or drink out of bowls if the
sides touch their
whiskers. Also, if a bowl is too deep, the cat
may take the food
out for convenience. A wider, shallower bowl
will probably
eliminate
this behavior.

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Why
does a cat chatter when he sees a bird?When
a cat kills prey, it bites down quickly several
times. The
"chatter"
is simulating the cat's behavior at the time of
attack.
Alternatively (according to a visitor): it's pure
and simple
frustration. When a cat is stalking or killing a
bird, they're almost
invariably completely silent. It's when they are
shut off from the prey
that they chatter. Another reason that cats
"chatter" when they
see a bird is because they are attempting to imitate
a bird call to
lure in their prey from out of reach places.

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Why
is a cat able to land on its feet from a fall?When
falling, the cat swivels
its
body in mid-air, so that it is facing the
ground, and lands
with
its back arched to absorb the shock. Cats use
their tails to
right themselves and
have very flexible bodies that allow them to swivel in
mid-air,
but the most important part of cats landing on their
feet has to do
with
their very complex inner-ear that allows the cat's brain
to know
exactly what direction is up and what direction is down
so that the
brain can send the appropriate signals to allow the cat
to land on all
four feet. The complex
inner-ear also aids them to
maintain balance
when jumping, landing, and walking on very narrow
spaces.

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Why
do cats like crinkly sounds?Crinkly
sounds are similar to the high-pitched noises of
rodents, birds, and
crickets,
so the crisp, crinkly sound of a crumpled piece of
paper or walking
into
a paper bag stimulates the cat's "prey response."

Why
do cats chew on plants?It
could be that the grass helps the cat get rid of fur
swallowed while
grooming,
or that grass provides fiber or vitamins and
minerals not found in
meat.
Some plants are poisonous
to a cat; others
are okay
for nibbling.

More
information is available at Sniksnak's Pawprints and
Purrs Why
do cats ...?
webpage.

For more detailed
information about cat behavior, or to help you
solve specific behavior
problems you may be having with your cat, I
strongly recommend reading
any or
all of these books - they are all very well
written, very informative
and interesting: